A microwave heating apparatus, such as a microwave oven, usually comprises a cooking chamber (or cavity) in which a load, such as a food item, may be placed to be heated. The microwave oven further comprises a microwave generator, such as e.g. a magnetron, for generating microwaves and a transmission line for transmitting the microwaves to the cavity.
In a microwave oven, the operating region of the microwave generator may depend on the type of load placed in the cavity. Certain operating regions, which may e.g. deteriorate the microwave generator, are preferably avoided. For this purpose, during the design of a microwave oven, a set of different standard loads is tested and the design of the microwave oven is adjusted, in particular its feeding system, for avoiding operation of the microwave generator in such operating regions. However, such a procedure is time consuming and, regardless of the number of standard loads tested during design, the likelihood of a customer finding a load not comprised in the set of standard loads is not negligible, thereby causing the risk of shortening the lifetime of the microwave generator (and thereby the microwave oven as a whole) or even of directly deteriorating the microwave generator.
Thus, there is a need for providing alternatives and/or new microwave heating apparatus that would overcome such drawbacks.